Impressionism

For the Love of Impressionism

Impressionism is arguably the most beloved and famous of all the artistic styles to date, which is celebrated for its bright colour and new, imaginative view of the world and society. However, originally in Paris in the 1870s, this kind of art was viewed as controversial and undisciplined, it was considered to threaten the values that fine art was meant to uphold. Then in 1874, a group of artists got together to make their own exhibition, mostly of quite small, informal pieces of art that would not have attracted any notice in the Salon (the big annual art exhibition in Paris). They did eight shows altogether, the last one being in 1886. In the first show, the critics picked up on the title of one of Claude Monet's Paintings, Impression Sunrise, and decided to call the whole group 'Impressionists'. The name stuck, and what was supposed to be just a nickname, ended up being the accepted name of the group.

Impressionist artists tried to convey the look and feeling they perceived by the immediate world that surrounded them. Particularly for Monet, this meant painting out of doors, trying to capture the effects of weather, nature and light on the spot, which would be very difficult for a "normal" artist. A very rapid sketch, like Impression

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Sunrise, looks as if it was entirely painted on the spot, but often he must have needed to finish his more elaborated pictures away from the scene, after the lighting effects had changed.

To contrast Monet, Edgar Degas although having this look that gave the feeling the figures were just glanced at. painted his works entirely within his studio, but he arranged his objects and figures to portray this just glanced at look. He often showed figures in such informal poses as stretching or scratching themselves, and frequently used the borders of the pictures to cut off parts of figures, in order to give a sense of immediacy to them.

The Impressionists' technique complemented the anxiousness and speed of their subjects. In their landscapes, they treated their subjects very informally, using a flurry of rapid and varied brush strokes to capture the overall effect of the scenario, without detailed descriptions of the objects within it. More often, too, they expressed lighting effects with bold contrasts of colour, having rich, warm highlights against blue shadows, and rejecting the old, traditional methods of treating the form of light and shade in terms of contrasts between light and dark tones.

Almost always there is remarkable technique and composition associated with Degas's use of lighting effects, Renoir's fat, sensuous brushstrokes, Pissarro's use of slabs and bits of paint, and Gauguin and Van Gogh's bold, bright colors. Also associated with these elements is the theme of change. The Impressionists, particularly the greatest among them, seemed remarkably open to changing the way they painted.

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The Impressionists' subjects were often of modern day, depicting the entertainment parts of Paris, or of the landscapes around the edges of the city that had been invaded by tourism and industrialization. Pierre-Auguste Renoir mainly focused on the young women of the city at the theatres, in cafйs, or in the streets and gardens of Paris. Berthe Morisot's favorite subjects were more domestic and tamed, showing her family and friends socializing at home. Monet, together with Camille Pissarro and Alfred Sisley, specialized in landscape scenes from the surrounding areas of Paris, and Degas was fascinated by the world of ballet, and by the entertainers in Paris's popular cafйs.

The critics at the time praised these artists initiative for organizing their own exhibitions to display and get their work seen and talked about, but their paintings were harshly criticized. The main focus of this criticism was the technique the impressionists used. The visible brushwork made their canvas appear crude and unfinished, and the colour appeared to be exaggerated and surreal. Also, the subjects they chose were considered unworthy and not suitable for fine art, as they focused on the least likely and seemingly trivial aspects of the modern world, rather than concentrating on scenes of natural beauty or moral significance.

The Impressionists first exhibitions in the 1870s took place during a period of political and social repression, during the aftermath of the Franco-Prussian War and the urban uprising of the Paris Commune of 1870-1. Their art appeared especially challenging and revolutionary during this period, and in these years they were only supported by a small number of loyal friends, fellow artists, writers and collectors. However, after the emergence of a better government in 1879, their work began to attract

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a wider circle of dealers and buyers. By 1890, Monet, Renoir and Degas, in particular, were achieving commercial success.

During the 1880s they all moved away from contemporary subjects. Monet traveled widely, painting fierce effects of light and weather across the coasts of France. Renoir began to paint scenes of women bathing in what could be described as almost seemingly timeless natural settings. Degas focused more on pictures of women bathing in everyday domestic places such as bathrooms, without obvious contemporary